Lucinda Black Bear gearing up for new album release

Lucinda Black Bear (Chad Hammer, Christian Gibbs, Kristin Mueller, Mike Cohen) onstage at the Knitting Factory in Brooklyn in February. (Photos copyright 2010, Steven P. Marsh)

Read on to download a free track

It’s good to see Lucinda Black Bear gearing up for a new album. And the first track, “Percival,” is out and it’s great. It’s also a song that conveniently references bears — in this case dancing bears, a subject that might get PETA interested!

Lucinda Black Bear is an energetic country-folk-rock band fronted by one of Will You Miss Me’s favorite musicians, Christian Gibbs. We discovered him when he joined the band for Passing Strange on Broadway, and quickly revealed himself as a fantastic guitarist and an all-around charismatic presence.

Christian Gibbs

LBB is the perfect showcase for his catchy melodies and charming lyrical sensibilities. The band’s first album, ‘Capo My Heart’ and Other Bear Songs, is a seriously good collection.

The new track continues along the path Gibbs and company took on that first record. It has a plaintive, heartstrings-tugging feel, enhanced by great string arrangements and Gibbs’ charming singing style.

Download “Percival” and decide for yourself by following this link.

If you like what you hear, be sure to check out the band when it returns to the stage for some CD release shows later this year, after the album drops on Nov. 2. Gibbs and his fantastic bandmates — drummer Kristin Mueller, bassist Mike Cohen, cellist Chad Hammer and violinist Gillian Rivers — put on a fantastic live show.

The band is scheduled for an in-store appearance at 4 p.m. Friday, Sept. 24 at Best Buy in Union Square, and will launch the new album in Manhattan at 9 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 5 at 92Y Tribeca (click for info and tickets, $10 in advance/$12 day of show). Additional shows are scheduled at Maxwell’s in Hoboken, N.J., on Wednesday, Nov. 11 and at Rockwood Music Hall in Manhattan on Thursday, Dec. 9.

And while we’re on the subject of Gibbs, be sure to check out his other band, The Droves, which is a more rock-oriented collaboration with his longtime pal and collaborator, Bang on a Can GM Kenny Savelson.